Tori Is Done
by SevReed
Summary: Tori's had enough. That's it. No more. From now on, Jade's on her own. A request from InvaderJohnny.
1. Chapter 1 - Out, Damned Spot

**Hi, new little two-shot, as a request from InvaderJohnny, loosely based on the Drake and Josh episode 'Josh is Done'. And when I say loosely, I mean very loosely. If you were wearing it as a pair of pants, it would be round your ankles by now.**

.

.

.

Tori had a pimple. Not a big pimple, but a pimple nonetheless. She checked it constantly in the mirror, having woken last night from a terrifying nightmare where it had grown large enough to take over her entire head. It didn't appear to be getting any larger, but she didn't want to take any chances. It was in this pimple-fixated frame of mind that she sat down at the table in the Asphalt Café and pulled out her compact to check it once again.

"You know, I have some ointment for that," Robbie said, helpfully.

"No thanks."

"Hey, dumbass, that's for butt-pimples," Rex said. "Not face-pimples."

"Butt-pimples are the same as face-pimples," Robbie protested.

"No they're not," André said. "Butt-pimples are gross. If I had a butt-pimple on my face, I wouldn't even leave the house."

"If you had a butt-pimple on your face it would _be_ a face-pimple," Robbie said. "A pimple's a pimple."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"Look," Tori said, "Could we all just shut up about pimples. This isn't a pimple. It's a... blocked pore."

"Same thing."

"You could try some coconut oil," Cat said. "That's good for your complexion. Isn't it, Jade?"

"Hmm?" Jade was staring angrily at her phone, which seemed to have developed a new and profound misunderstanding of the word 'smart'.

"I said, coconut oil would be good for Tori's complexion."

"The only thing that would improve Vega's complexion," Jade muttered, stabbing at the screen, "would be sticking her face in a deep-fat fryer." She paused. "Actually, that would improve a lot of things," she said, as all her apps disappeared in a final cataclysmic failure.

Any other day, it might have been different. Any other day, when Tori had had a good night's sleep not interrupted by head-popping horror, any other day when her face had been its usual, blemish-free self, she might have let it go. But not today. Her nostrils flared, and she rammed her things into her bag, got up from the table, and left.

The silence that followed was unusual enough to rouse Jade from her reverie of hunting down the executives of the phone company and chopping them into very tiny pieces, and she looked up to find a Tori-shaped space at the table and everyone looking at her. She turned to Beck, who hoisted the Arched Eyebrow of Disapproval.

"What?"

He said nothing, but raised the other one to meet it. She sighed. "Ugh, fine." She got up from the table, reluctantly, and set off in the direction Tori had taken. "Hey, Vega," she called. "Hey! Tori! Wait up!"

.

.

.

She caught up with Tori by her locker. "Hey."

"What?" Tori opened her locker and began taking her books out.

"Look, about before…"

"About before, when?" Tori said, coldly. "You mean, before, when you said I was so ugly that third-degree burns could only be an improvement?"

"Jeez, Tori, I didn't mean it like that. It was just a joke."

"Oh. Well that's all right, then."

"Really?"

"No!" Tori yelled, loud enough to make her jump. "No it's _not_ all right! I'm sick of it, Jade. I'm sick of all the put-downs, all the insults, all the mockery. All the times you threaten to hurt me. All the times you _actually_ hurt me. All the little digs about my singing, and my acting, and my hair, and my clothes, and my science projects, and every other goddamn part of my life. All I've ever tried to do is be your friend, and all you've ever done is throw it back in my face. I wouldn't care so much if you'd just come right out and tell me you _hate_ me, but you don't, do you? You lure me in, hang out with me, make me think I'm getting somewhere, and then the next day you just cut me dead as if I've wazzed in your purse."

"Oh, come on, Tori. That's just our thing."

"No, Jade, that's just _your_ thing, your stupid little thing, and I've had enough of it."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm done. It's over. I don't want to talk to you any more."

"You can't be serious."

"I am. From now on, you and me, we're nothing. We're not friends, we're not enemies, we're not anything. We're just two kids who go to the same school."

"Tori..."

"I'm done." Tori slammed her locker shut. "Goodbye." She turned, and walked away, leaving a stunned Jade in her wake.

.

.

.

"... I mean, who the hell does she think she is?" Jade said. "Stomping off like that. I mean, talk about overreacting. And why does she think I'd care, anyway? The world doesn't revolve around her. And it's not as if she's never been mean to me, is it? She ruined my clown thing, she got me dragged off by that weird baby guy, she licked my cola can, and I've done nice stuff for her too, you know? We've hung out, and I let her wear my dress that time, and I bought her some gum for her birthday, and I... are you even _listening_ to me?"

Beck gripped the wheel tighter. "Yes," he said. "I am. That's all I've _been_ doing for the past two hours."

"Oh, _I'm_ sorry, am I boring you?"

"I just think you need to get over it."

"Oh, I see."

"What?"

"I might have known you'd take her side."

"I'm not taking anyone's side."

"Sounds like it to me."

"For God's sake, will you just give it a rest?" he said, exasperated. "She's mad at you. It'll blow over. Just go in there Monday morning, and apologize."

"I tried to apologize!"

"Not hard enough, obviously."

"You know, I thought I might expect a little support from my boyfriend."

"I _am_ supportive of you."

"Yeah, right. Anyway," she folded her arms, sulkily. "I don't see why I _should_ apologize."

Beck wrenched the wheel and pulled the car over to a halt.

"Unbelievable."

"What?"

"You really don't do you?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"This has got to stop, Jade. If you don't start treating people better, then you're not going to _have_ any friends."

"She's not my friend," Jade said, automatically.

"Really? Then why are we having this conversation?"

"Well, I guess she's _kind_ of-"

"And if I have to spend the next forty-eight hours listening to you complaining about this, then you're not going to have a boyfriend, either. You were a gank to her, and she called you on it. It's as simple as that. Now," he said, "we're going up to my dad's cabin for a nice, peaceful weekend away, and if I even _hear_ the words 'Tori' or 'Vega', I'm packing up and coming home, and you can stay there and get eaten by bears. Do you understand?"

Jade slumped further in her seat and folder her arms, sulkily. She nodded and stared out of the window.

"Good." He started the car again. "It will all be fine on Monday. Trust me."

.

.

.

 **So, will it all be fine on Monday? Anyone want to guess? Anyone?**


	2. Chapter 2 - I Don't Like Mondays

**Ok, I lied, it's going to be a three-shot. But the last chapter will be along shortly. We've drifted a little from the original plot, but I hope you still like it.**

 **So, how's Jade's week going?**

.

.

.

Monday came, and it wasn't fine. She tried to catch up with Tori, but the other girl was elusive, mercurial, always at the other end of a corridor, always talking to someone else. It soon became clear that it wasn't going to be as simple as that. Tori wasn't waiting for an apology, Tori didn't _want_ an apology, Tori was just going to keep avoiding her, presumably until they graduated school or one of them dropped dead. She waited for lunchtime, but the other girl didn't show. André said she had extra practice in one of her classes, but she didn't believe him. Well, if that was the way she wanted to play it, Jade decided, it was her loss.

Except it wasn't. Jade couldn't sleep that night, restless and fidgety. She wished she'd stayed at Beck's place, but Beck had cried off and made an excuse. She couldn't blame him. She'd been snappy and irritable all weekend, with Tori on her mind. She knew she was doing it, too, she knew she was driving him away, and yet she seemed incapable of doing anything else. She was terrified of losing him, but she couldn't bring herself to let him know that, so she found herself constantly testing his commitment to her by pushing him further and further. And she knew, somewhere at the back of her mind, that it couldn't go on forever. Something would have to give eventually.

As it had with Tori.

She groaned, and rolled over. This was stupid. Tori was just being unreasonable. It wasn't as if she'd run over her dog, or Trina, or anything. It was just a cheap crack about a pimple. She couldn't seriously think that Jade thought she was ugly, or couldn't sing, or dance, or any of the other things that Jade might - allegedly - have said, at some point in the past. No. If Tori had so little self-esteem that she couldn't see how hot she was, then that was her problem.

She woke exhausted, having finally fallen asleep only to find herself trapped in a dream where she was being eaten alive by a monster purse while Tori cackled gleefully from the side-lines. She drove herself to school, when it became obvious that Beck wasn't going to, and clipped the fender on the gatepost. _Crap_. Another chunk of her allowance in the body shop. Right, first order of business, find Beck and bawl him out for not picking her up, then get on with ignoring Tori. If Tori didn't want an apology, then that was exactly what she wasn't going to get. Two could play at this game.

The flaw in this plan struck her almost immediately. If Tori was avoiding her, then how the heck would she even _know_ she was being ignored? She'd have to find her first.

She lay in wait. She'd skipped out of her lesson early to get into position. Tori had to walk down this corridor after her class, so at the appropriate moment, Jade was going to walk _up_ it. Tori couldn't fail to see her, so she'd either have to make an undignified retreat, or walk past her, at which point there was going to be some 24-carat, solid gold, ignorification going on. Jade could ignore people so hard it set off car-alarms. Tori was going to get it.

Tori appeared at the appointed time, walking down the corridor past the lockers, chatting to someone, and Jade began her run. She set off, striding purposefully in the opposite direction, head held high, an expression of haughty superiority on her face. She imagined she was being filmed in slow motion, the slight toss of her hair, the sway of the hips, the admiring glances of the frozen crowd. She was a goddess surrounded by mortals, untouchable, serene. At the exact moment she drew level with Tori she allowed herself a casual glance towards her, her eyebrow arched, a faint sneer of amused distain curling her lip, a leisurely blink before she turned away dismissively, as though Tori was no more than a trifle, an insect, a mere flicker of distraction, and walked face-first into an open locker door.

"Ow! Fuck."

The crowd froze for real, watching in horrified fascination as the locker door swung closed again to allow its owner, a small student whose name probably wasn't worth committing to memory given how long he had left to live, to come face to face with a dishevelled and incandescent Jade. "You little..!"

" _Ohshit_." The student was smart, and was already tearing down the corridor before Jade had got up a full head of steam. Normally she'd have given him a head start anyway, just to make the chase more fun. But not today. She stood, grinding her teeth, a small trickle of blood coming from her nose, and heard muffled giggling behind her. She turned, expecting them all to flee, but there was safety in numbers and she began to feel hot tears welling up, partly from the pain and partly from the sheer humiliation of it. Instead she made her way blurrily to the bathroom and shed them in private, staring at herself in the mirror while she dabbed at her injured nose. Everyone had laughed at her, but that wasn't the worst thing. The worst thing was Tori. She hadn't laughed, hadn't joined in, instead she'd just shaken her head in despair, before turning away and walking on down the corridor and into the hall.

Any other day, Tori would have come to see if she was all right. Any other day, Tori would have appeared at the bathroom door, with a diffident knock as though this was Jade's private office, and said, 'Are you okay?' And of course, any other day, Jade would have snapped at her sarcastically before taking her handkerchief, covering it in blood and snot, and shoving it back into her hand with a squelch as she walked out without a word of thanks.

 _That's just our thing._

Is it?

.

.

.

There were fewer people at lunch. Not only was Tori absent, but André, too. Cat and Robbie prattled away to each other, while Beck seemed tense and uncommunicative. Jade took this as a sign that he was mulling over her predicament with Tori.

"I tried, okay?" she said.

It turned out Beck wasn't thinking about that. "What?"

"I tried to talk to her yesterday," Jade said. "And she's ignoring me. She ignored me again today. I don't know what else you expect me to do."

"Me?" Beck said, grumpily. "What's it got to do with me?"

" _You_ said I should apologize," Jade said, accusingly. "' _It'll all blow over'_ , you said. Well, it hasn't."

"It's only been a day."

"A day and a half."

"Give it time."

"How much time?"

"Look, do you want me to talk to her?"

" _Ohhhhhhhhh_."

Beck closed his eyes and groaned, having long ago become accustomed to this particular verbal warning sign.

"Oh, you'd love that, wouldn't you?" Jade went on, hotly. "You'd just love to get together with her, have a little chat about me, make me out to be some kind of charity case. Well, I don't think so. In fact, I don't want you talking to her at _all_."

"What?"

"If she doesn't want to talk to me, she doesn't get to talk to you, either."

She hated herself as soon as she'd said it. This was exactly the kind of over-the-top, pointless demand that put such a strain on their relationship, and made her sound both bitchy _and_ insecure. The look on his face told her that she was right, and she decided, for once, to relent. "Beck..."

But it was too late. He got up. "Got to get to class," he said, and walked off.

She sagged in her seat. Across the table, Cat and Robbie were still talking. "Cat," she said, and got no response. "Cat!"

Cat jumped. "What?"

"Have you seen Tori today?"

"I saw her this morning."

"And did she... say anything?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"She said good morning, and then she said she needed to pee, and then she said-"

"I mean, did she say anything about _me_?"

Cat went crimson with fear, and Jade watched patiently as she tried, and failed, to come up with a lie. "Um..."

"Cat..."

"She just said you two had fallen out," Cat said quickly. Jade's eyes narrowed.

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Don't make me come over there."

"She said you'd been mean to her," Cat blurted out. "And she didn't want to be your friend anymore. But I'm sure it'll all be fine," she added, quickly. "Don't hurt me."

"I'm not… Jeez. Did she ask about me? How I was?"

Cat wasn't sure what the right answer should be, so she went with honesty. "No."

"Oh."

"Do you want me to say something to her?"

"…No."

"'Kay, 'kay."

.

.

.

Wednesday started badly. She stubbed her toe on the bed. She spilled her coffee. She tore her skirt on the door handle. None of these things could, in reality, be blamed on Tori, but she felt aggrieved nonetheless. She was losing concentration. She needed to get back on top of things.

Beck didn't show, but she hadn't really expected it, not now. They were still together, but it felt more and more like a sham, like they were going through the motions. She'd drive herself. She caught the other fender on her way out of the drive, but she didn't care.

Ignoring Tori was getting her nowhere, it was only making her complicit in their separation. She decided to try a new tack, and force a confrontation. No, not a confrontation, that would be stupid. Tori would just walk away. How about... niceness? That could work. She planted herself slap bang in front of Tori's locker and waited. She was aware of people looking at her, and folded her arms impatiently, leaning back and scowling at them. She was still busy scowling when Tori appeared. Damn it. That looked bad. She quickly busied herself rummaging in her bag, as though she was just passing by. She looked up as Tori approached. "Oh, hey."

Tori paused. "Excuse me."

Jade blinked in confusion. Those were words. Definitely words. Spoken to her. By Tori. So far so good. She just didn't know what they meant. She realized she was blocking access to the locker. She shifted to one side, as Tori opened it, and struggled for something to say, something that would cut to the chase, that would break down Tori's defences and leave them hugging and laughing in the hallway.

"That's a... nice shirt," she managed. Tori looked at her.

"Thanks."

Not quite what she'd been aiming for, but Tori had replied, which meant that technically, this was a conversation. _Yes_. Score one to West. Flushed with success she began, "Look, Tori, I'm really sorry about-"

But she was cut short by the slam of the locker as Tori spotted someone else. "Hey, Chloé, wait up." She disappeared in a rush, leaving Jade mouthing platitudes to empty space. She made to move but the edge of her jacket was trapped in the locker door. She rested her head against the cold steel, and cursed. It was going to be a long day.

.

.

.

It didn't get any better at lunchtime. It got worse. Much, much worse. She sat at their usual table, fiddling with her ripped jacket and making one-sided conversation with a mute Beck, until it became obvious that no one was joining them. "Where the heck is everybody?" she said, irritably. Beck lifted his head sullenly, and nodded over her shoulder. She turned to follow his gaze.

There they were, over in the corner, at a different table. Tori, André, Cat and Robbie. Talking and laughing as if they hadn't a care in the world. Only André noticed them looking, and at least had the grace to look guilty, although that was probably sympathy for Beck more than anything. She felt sick. Had Tori done this no purpose? _Would_ Tori do this on purpose? In some ways it was worse if she _hadn't_ , if it was simply that her natural attraction drew them all to her, like planets in orbit around the sun. Even Beck was probably feeling the pull. She'd known these people all through high school, and three days was all it had taken for them to abandon her in favour of Tori. Three days. She turned back to Beck, speechless, and her heart broke as she saw nothing in his eyes but a cold _I told you so_.

Her jaw clenched. She should say something. She should go over and have it out with them. They had no right to-

"And what good would that do?" Beck said, reading her thoughts.

"But..."

"Leave it."

She took one last look at the other table, and briefly caught Tori's eye. There was no triumph in her expression, no malice. As she saw Jade, her smile dropped, and for a moment Jade thought she saw a trace of sadness in her eyes. But even as she watched it faded, and she turned away.

Jade lost what little appetite she had. She pushed the remains of her lunch towards Beck, and left.


	3. Chapter 3 - Pictures of You

**And so we reach the final part of our story, a little later and a lot longer than I expected. All comments welcome.**

 **Many thanks to InvaderJohnny for his idea.**

 **.**

 **I wonder who the little girl is?**

.

.

.

Jade sat in her room that night. She had a test tomorrow, but Tori had her text book, and she couldn't bring herself to go and ask for it back. She'd done her best with the internet, but the internet didn't know Mr. Brockman, and so the internet hadn't carefully put pencil marks against the topics he'd told them to study. She'd have to wing it. Instead, she stared at the wall.

Where Tori had left her abruptly, Beck was leaving her slowly, by degrees. She knew that. And somehow these things were entwined, interconnected. If she lost Beck, her isolation would be complete. And if Tori stayed away, the likelihood of Beck sticking with her and rejecting his friends was remote. How had it come to this? She really needed to talk to someone. And the only person she could talk to, the only person who'd ever really listened, was Tori. _Way to go, Jade._

And she realized it was the loss of Tori that hurt more.

She needed Tori, and she'd always assumed that Tori needed her too, that their relationship had been symbiotic, that Tori enjoyed the conflict as much as she did. Tori didn't like to have things too easy - that much was obvious, she was constantly putting herself in the way of disaster, usually self-inflicted, and she'd thought of herself as part of that, both her foil and her comrade. But now it was obvious that Tori _didn't_ like it, that all this time she'd hated it, and the efforts that she went to be 'friends' were a genuine attempt to get it to stop.

So maybe, just maybe, she should let her know how she really felt.

She pulled out a piece of paper, and wrote a note. She'd intended it to be masterpiece of dignified poignancy, a bittersweet, heart-wrenching tour-de-force of emotion that would leave Tori weeping with regret, but when she read it back it turned out to mainly be the word _'sorry'_ over and over again, interspersed with a few half-assed explanations. Still, it was honest, and she was tired, so she slipped it into an envelope, along with a photograph, and put it in her bag.

The following day, she spent the morning swiftly and thoroughly flunking her test, and then ran across the hall before the rest of the classes started turning out of their rooms. She slipped the envelope through the crack in Tori's locker, and retreated to a safe distance, peering around the corner, waiting.

Tori appeared, alone, much to Jade's relief. She watched as the other girl opened her locker, paused for a moment, and pulled out the envelope. She held her breath.

She didn't have to hold it for long. After a moment's hesitation, Tori crumpled up the note and dropped it, unread, in the trashcan, before walking away down the corridor.

Jade felt like she'd been punched in the gut. She leaned back against the wall, digging her nails into the palms of her hands in frustration, before she emerged, crossed the hall quickly, and retrieved the envelope. She sat down against the wall, put it on her knees, and did her best to flatten it out again, trying not to notice that her vision was blurring as she looked down, that she could feel the paper getting damp with tears. She pushed it back into her bag, and fled.

She skipped the rest of the day. Beck didn't call to ask where she was.

.

.

.

Friday was worse. Not just because she had to spend the whole day suffering, but because there was so much more of the day to suffer _in_ \- they had some stupid workshop that Sikowitz had organized, which was going to be sheer hell, because it was just the six of them, her, Tori, Beck, Andre, Robbie and Cat. She spent all day dreading it, and when it came, it lived up to every expectation. Even Sikowitz's enforced cheerfulness couldn't defuse the tension, and to make matters worse she'd been terrible, unable to concentrate, fluffing her lines, mumbling in confusion as they'd all stood there, staring at her, and in the end she'd snapped at everyone. She almost ran out of the door when it was over, making it to the hall, pushing out into the parking lot gasping for fresh air. A few minutes later Beck caught up with her, head bowed, quiet. Normally she'd deal with this by demanding he take her somewhere to cheer her up, but there was something in the air tonight, something wrong. She turned to him.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry?"

"In there. I was awful. I'm sorry." He didn't reply, so she pressed on. "So," she said, "what do you want to do tonight? My treat."

This was a pretty unprecedented move - usually Jade decided, and Beck just went along with it. But Beck didn't seem thrilled. Instead he shook his head.

"I'll give you a ride home," he said, quietly.

"Oh." She could feel the fear rising. "We don't have to go anywhere," she said desperately. "I mean, if you just want to stay in, we could-"

"I've had enough, Jade."

Her throat went dry. "Beck..."

"I can't do this anymore."

"But-"

"It's over," he said. His shoulders drooped, as though in relief. "I'm sorry."

"But you can't just..." Despite everything, she hadn't been expecting this, not right now. "Beck, please..."

"I'll give you a ride home, if you want."

A ride home. That was her reward. She knew, as Beck must have done, that he'd shouldered more than his fair share of her woes, of her anger, her bitchiness. But the thought of accepting his charity, of being driven home in silence, dismissed, dropped off at her door, single and unwanted, was too much. She felt her anger building up.

"Screw you."

"Jade..."

"What?" she snarled. "You think I'm going to beg you for a ride home right after you've dumped me?"

"I just want to make sure you-"

"Is this why you turned up this morning? Hmm? So you could play this little trick? That's pretty fucking low, Beck."

"I didn't know-"

"Oh, didn't you?" she fumed. "Well, don't worry, because I've had it with you! You can just jump in your crappy little truck and go home to your stupid tin box and I'll walk home!"

She stomped back through the school door, and stood in the hall. She wondered if he might follow, but a few minutes later, she heard him gun the engine, heard the tyres squealing as he skidded out of the parking lot, the way he always did when he was mad. She crossed the hall, pressed her back against the lockers, and slid down to the ground, curling up into a ball. He was gone. She'd lost him. She'd lost them all. No, worse - she'd driven them away. The school was empty now, silent and dark, so she let the tears come, long, ugly sobs, her shoulders shaking, her face pressed tight against her knees.

.

.

.

Not quite empty. She heard the click of footsteps in the distance. Heard them cross the hall, heard them grow louder until they came to a stop in front of her. She looked up, face wet, mascara running down her cheeks, to see Tori standing over her.

Their eyes locked for a few seconds before the other girl simply sighed and held out a hand. Jade took it, hesitantly, and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet, let herself be drawn into an embrace, offered no resistance at all to the hug that squeezed the tears out of her.

.

.

.

They sat in silence on the school steps. Tori still hadn't said anything, and Jade began to wonder if any of this was real, or perhaps just a vision brought on by hysteria. "Tori..."

"This doesn't change anything." Tori's voice was distant, and Jade's heart sank.

"But in there-"

"You were upset, Jade. I heard what happened, and no one deserves to be left on their own after that. But it doesn't make us friends."

Jade wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve, and said nothing. The silence lengthened until it was unbearable. "I'd better go," she said.

But Tori wasn't done yet. "Do you know how hard it is, Jade?" she said, with a flash of anger. "Do you know how _difficult_ it is, trying to be your friend? Getting constantly knocked back, always trying to do the right thing, knowing that even when you do, you won't get any thanks? I've _tried_ , Jade. I've really tried. But you just won't let me in, will you? You won't let me in, but you won't let me go, instead you just keep me dancing along like a puppet, like I'm just there to entertain you. I deserve more than that, Jade. I'm tired. I just can't do it anymore," she said, her words echoing Beck's. "If you don't want me to be part of your life then I don't want you in mine."

Her words sounded final, but still she made no move to leave, and they sat there for a moment longer, until Jade spoke.

"Tori?"

"What?"

"Can I show you something?"

Tori looked up. "What is it?"

"Not here. At my house."

"I..." Even though she was mad, the lure of Jade's house made her hesitate. "Trina's supposed to be picking me up," she said. She looked at her watch. "If she remembers."

"Please. It won't take long. And then I'll drive you home."

"But how are we going to get there?"

"We'll have to walk."

"Walk?"

"It won't take long. Please."

Tori looked around the empty, Trina-free parking lot, and made up her mind. "I'll text her and tell her not to come."

"...Thank you."

.

.

.

The walk wasn't far, and although neither of them spoke a word - Tori still holding on to the remains of her anger, Jade afraid to jeopardize the fragile peace - it was pleasant, almost companionable. They reached Jade's house, and she was ushered up to the bedroom. They stood for a moment. "Well?" Tori said.

Jade crossed to a set of drawers on the corner, opened the bottom one, and pulled something out.

A folder. No, not a folder, a book. The cover a faded purple, bound with a black ribbon. A scrapbook. She handed it to Tori.

"What's this?" Tori said, taking it and turning it over in her hands.

"Open it."

Tori looked at her, and Jade nodded. She slipped the bow of the ribbon and lifted the cover.

Pictures of babies. At first she was confused as to why Jade would collect pictures of babies, and even more confused by the fact that she was showing them to her, but then she realized that these were all the same baby, just at different ages.

These were Jade.

She turned the page. Jade as a toddler, Jade on holiday with her parents. It dawned on her that they were in chronological order. Here was Jade playing on a swing, with a slightly older girl, laughing and squealing. She paused. Jade didn't have a sister. "Who's this?"

Jade shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "I was only five."

Tori moved on. Jade with friends at a birthday party, the banner proclaiming her to be the grand old age of ten, photographs of random family member, aunts, uncles, her dad looking disturbingly young. Another family holiday, this time with Jade as a sullen teenager, the first blossoming of rebellion, trying to make herself invisible in embarrassment at being seen with her parents.

Then high school years. The first sighting of their friends, Jade smiling with her arms around them. Scraps of paper with songs and poems on them, drawings, keepsakes. Things that meant something. She turned the page, and reached the time when she'd first come to Hollywood Arts.

She blinked in surprise, as she came face to face with her life in pictures.

Tori had always secretly assumed that Jade cropped her out of photos, or took them from angles where she'd look ridiculous or have a pot plant growing out of her head, but this said otherwise. Plays, parties, hanging out, she was everywhere, beaming out at the camera. Some of them were nothing _but_ her - Tori at the Platinum Awards, Tori singing at the Jam, Tori playing the lead in something that she was pretty damned sure Jade had auditioned for and been really angry about at the time.

She turned to the final page, the last photograph. This one was blown up, taking a full page. Her again. Her and Jade.

They were outside, a party after a show. She couldn't remember which one. They didn't know they were being photographed, neither of them was looking at the camera. Tori was looking at something in the distance, laughing and waving, and Jade had an arm around her waist, her face tilted towards her, looking at her with an expression of... what? Fondness? Affection? Pride?

"You were always a part of my life, Tori," Jade said quietly from behind her. "I just never thought to tell you how much."

"Jade..."

"I _know_. I know I've treated you badly and I understand now if you don't want me to be part of yours. And I know this doesn't change anything, it doesn't excuse what I've done, I just wanted you to know that. Because this week made me realize I need you, Tori. And not just you. All of them. Not because I can't live my life without you, but because it wouldn't be the same. I know I've been a pretty crappy friend, and I know this is probably too little too late, but If you give me a chance, I can try to fix it, be a different person."

There was a long pause. Jade's air of hopeful expectation faded as Tori turned to her. "I don't want you to be a different person, Jade. That's not what this is about."

"But..."

I didn't do this to teach you a lesson," Tori said. "I didn't do it to make you change, or see the error of your ways. I don't want you to apologize and pretend to be someone else, because you can't. You're _you_ , that's who you are. I did this for my own sanity. For my own peace of mind. I like you Jade, I really do. I like all kinds of things about you, and I don't think you're a bad person, not really. I like to think we could have been really good friends. You're funny, you're smart, and I'd love to hang out with you, and bicker, and banter, and all that stuff. But that's the problem. I can't keep _doing_ this, I can't keep living one side of a friendship that doesn't exist. Every day it gets harder, lying to myself, making believe I'm getting something back. It's not the things you do, it's the fact that you don't _care_ , that as far as you're concerned, I'm just an insignificant blob in the background of your life. I made a decision, and it was the hardest thing I ever had to do. But it had to be done, because it was killing me, Jade. I had to make a sacrifice to save myself. I had to lose something I wanted, because it was only causing me pain. It was wrong of me to make the others choose, I shouldn't have done that. That was unfair to them, and to you. But I had to make _my_ choice. And I don't know if I can go back on that."

Jade's shoulders sagged in defeat. She reached for the scrapbook to take it from Tori, but Tori didn't let it go. She was still staring at the photograph. She traced a finger across the picture, and realized it was uneven, creased. She looked up, questioningly.

Jade hesitated. "It was in the envelope," she said.

Tori looked back. She'd screwed it up. This had been Jade's olive branch, and she'd screwed it up and tossed it away. She hadn't known, but then she hadn't bothered to look.

"Why did you put it back?" she said.

"Put what back?"

"The photo. I screwed it up and threw it away," Tori said. "But you took it out of the trash and put it back in the book. Even when you thought it was over, even when you thought I hated you, even when you must have hated _me_ , you still wanted to keep it. Why?"

"I don't know," Jade said. "It's just… a happy memory, I guess. And if there aren't going to be any more, then I've got to hang on to the ones I've got." She shuffled her feet. "Especially if I'm going to spend the rest of high school eating my lunch in the janitor's closet."

 _No more memories._ Tori put her face in her hands and gave a muffled grunt of frustration. "For crying out loud, Jade," she said. "Just one word. Just _one_ word would have done, months ago, to let me know that we were friends, that this was how you felt, and I'd never have done any of this. Anything, _anything_ would have done. You didn't even need the book. You could have just told me."

"I know, and I wish I _had_ ," Jade said. "But it's not too late, is it? Please, Tori. It doesn't have to be like this."

Tori closed her eyes tightly, and for a full minute sat there, motionless, as Jade held her breath. Finally she opened them.

"No. I can't do this. I'm sorry."

Jade exhaled. "I understand," she said quietly. She reached for her keys. "I'll take you home."

"No," Tori said, "I mean I can't do _this_." She looked up at Jade's confusion. "If I leave now, I'm not just kicking a bad habit, I'm not just cutting out the cancer or walking away from someone who doesn't care, I'm… turning my back on a friend. A badly-behaved, foul-tempered and _inconsiderate_ friend," she added, "but still a friend." She shrugged, helplessly. "And I can't do that to a friend."

Jade bit her lip. "So it's not..?"

"No, it's not too late," Tori said, wearily. She stood up, and turned towards her erstwhile tormentor. "But you were cutting it pretty fine. Come here."

She opened her arms, and for the first time there was no hesitation as Jade slipped between them gratefully. "Thank you."

"Don't make me regret this."

"I won't."

They stayed in the embrace, faces buried in each other's hair, for a while, before Tori pulled back.

"But there's a price," she said.

"A price?"

"If you want this, there's a price. There's something I want you to do for me."

"What is it?" Jade said, warily.

Tori told her.

"You have _got_ to be kidding!"

"I'm serious."

"But…"

"Trust me, Jade," Tori said. "It'll help."

.

.

.

Jade sat, squirming in embarrassment. "I was six, okay," she said, hotly. "My mom made me wear it."

On the table lay the scrapbook. Around her Tori, Andre, Cat and Robbie leafed through it in wide-eyed fascination.

"You were so cute."

A giggle from Cat earned her a sharp glare from Jade. " _Guys_ ," Tori chided.

"I can't believe you're making me do this," Jade muttered.

"Wait."

They moved further on, Jade's face growing redder with every comment, until she was almost on the verge of reneging on the agreement and slamming the book when finally they reached the part that Tori really wanted them to see. "That's me!" Robbie said, suddenly.

"What? Where?"

"There!"

"Whoa, no chiz. And me!"

Another page.

"I remember that!"

And another.

"Oh, man!"

And more pages, and more.

"Wasn't that the time when we-"

"You should have seen their faces-"

"What about that guy with the-"

"In that outfit? We must have been-

"I can't believe you kept all this-"

And so the floodgates opened, as suppressed sniggers gave way to shared laughter, and memories were relived, re-forged, the clouds of the present burnt away by the sun of the past as they wandered back through their own history, finding new delight in old adventures. Tori sat back, quietly, with a little smile. This wasn't about her – she and Jade had reached their own understanding. This was about them, about a group of friends remembering _why_ they were friends. Only Beck was absent, and she couldn't help that - their relationship was different, separate from this, a reconciliation for another time. But she'd done her best. By the time the bell rang at the end of lunch, they were crying with laughter, and Jade's eyes were wet with tears of a different kind.

They walked out of school at the end of the day, arm in arm. Jade laid her head on Tori's shoulder. "Thank you," she said.

Tori smiled. "I told you to trust me."

"Yeah." Jade sighed. "Although I still don't see why we couldn't just go with the school pictures. I'll never live it down now everyone's seen me in a pink romper suit."

"It makes you look _human_ ," Tori said. "And that counts for a lot."

"I guess."

"Of course, _I_ know they're all fakes, and you were really grown in a laboratory, but your secret's safe with me."

"Very funny."

"I thought so." She grinned. "So," she said. "Give me a ride home?"

Jade pulled a face. "What? You can't take a bus?"

"Well, yeah, I could do that. I could catch the four-thirty to _'Don't Push Your Luck, West'_."

Jade sighed. "You know, you're pretty high-maintenance for a friend."

"Get used to it."

"Maybe I'd be better off with a dog."

"There are some people even dogs can't love."

"Says the girl who compared her best friend to cancer."

"Hey! No one mentioned 'best'."

"If I don't get the top spot then I'm not joining the team."

"Now who's being high-maintenance?"

"I just like to have my talents recognized."

"Well if I notice any, I'll be sure to point them out."

" You wouldn't know talent if it bit you on the ass."

"I'll bite _you_ on the ass in a minute."

"Really? Wow. I'm weirdly turned on right now."

"You are _so_ gross."

"Yeah. Come on. Race you to the car."

.

.

.

"So, you want to come for dinner?"

"Okay. What is it?"

"It depends. How much money have you got?"

"You're unbelievable, you know that?"

"Thanks."

"Not a compliment."

"Oh."

"This is exactly why I didn't want anything to do with you."

"I thought you couldn't live without me?"

"When did I say that?"

"You made that whole speech, remember? It went, _Blah, blah, I missed you, Jade, blah, blah, blah_."

"No it didn't!"

"That's what I got from it."

"Then you're an idiot."

"So you didn't miss me?"

"Like a hole in the head."

"I missed you, too."

.

"I give up. You know what? Maybe you're right. Maybe this is our thing."

 _._

 _._

 _._

"Maybe that's _exactly_ what it is."


	4. Epilogue

**Okay, for those of you who might have been a little disappointed that there was no romance, here's a little peek into the future…**

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _Six weeks later..._

.

"Do you want me to talk to him?"

"No, I don't want you to talk to him."

"I don't mind."

"No."

"I could always-"

"No!"

"I'm just asking."

"Look, Tori, I appreciate the offer, but I don't want him back. Not now, not ever. It's over."

"Okay."

"And why the heck are you so interested in me and Beck, anyway?"

"Because I'm the one who usually has to put you back together."

"True. Well, not this time. I'm done."

"You said that last time."

"Last time I was angry. This time... I'm bored, Tori. I never realized it before, but Beck's probably the most boring person in the world."

"I thought _I_ was the most boring person in the world?"

"Who said that?"

"You did."

"Oh. Well, okay then, he's the second most boring person in the world."

"Thanks. You know, that would have been a great time to deny that."

"I'm sorry. You know I'm only kidding. I don't think you're boring."

"That's better."

"You just exude a boring facade."

"Right. In the same way you're not _really_ a gank."

"Touché."

"So it's really over?"

"It's really over. I'm not interested in him."

"So are you interested in someone else?"

"...Maybe."

"Well that's great, isn't it? Have you told them?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because... they don't feel the same way."

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

"But how?"

"Could we talk about something else?"

"Nope."

"Okay, fine. They don't see me like that."

"Like what?"

"You know. Romantically."

"Why? Is there something wrong with them?"

"What do you mean?"

"Most guys would explode at the thought of... you know. With you."

"Gross. No, there's nothing wrong with them. It's more that we're just friends."

"You don't have any friends."

"Thanks, Tori."

"I mean you don't have any friends apart from me and the guys."

"Hey, for all you know I have a vibrant and hectic social life outside of school."

"Do you?"

"No."

"So it _is_ one of them? Oooooh."

"Please don't do this, Tori."

"What?"

"Start guessing."

"I wasn't going to."

"Good."

"Is it Beck?"

"I just... no, of course it's not Beck, you idiot. Why do you think we're even having this conversation?"

"Oh, okay. Is it... Robbie?"

"No."

"Sinjin?"

"You're doing this on purpose."

"Burf?"

"I'm going to kill you."

"I'm just kidding. I know who it is."

"You really don't."

"Begins with 'A'."

"It's not André."

"I knew it! I... what?"

"It's not André."

"Then who?"

"I'm not going to tell you. You can guess your way through the whole school if you want to, but I'll just deny it."

"Okay. Is it-"

"That wasn't a suggestion, Tori."

"Oh."

"Anyway, why are you so bothered?"

"Because I want to help my good friend Jade achieve her heart's desire. And also, I'm kind of nosy."

"Yes, you are. And trust me, you can't help, not with this. I'm busted. It's not a goer."

" _Ahhh_. Is it Cat?"

"What? No, it's not Cat."

"Trina?"

"You're going to be wearing that burrito in a minute."

"I just thought that maybe-"

"I know what you thought."

"Well?"

"Don't you have someone else to annoy?"

"Okay, okay. I get it. If you don't want to tell me, that's your business. I'll respect your decision."

"Good. Thank you."

.

.

.

" _Please_ tell me! Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease-"

"No! Look, all it will do is make life unbearably awkward for everyone concerned, and I don't want that."

"I won't tell anyone."

"That's not the problem, believe me."

"Fine. If that's the way you want it. But if you don't tell me, I'll never speak to you again."

"That's sounding pretty good right now."

"Urrrgh. Is it that weird kid with the trombone?"

"No."

"Ryder?"

"You're not going to stop with this, are you?"

"No."

"Jeez. Fine. But if I tell you, you have to promise me that you won't make a big deal of it."

"I promise."

"And you have to promise that whatever happens, you won't think badly of me."

"Why would I… Oh, my God."

"What?"

"Is it Sikowitz?"

" _No_. Okay, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to write it on this napkin, and I'm going to fold it up. And you don't look at it until I'm gone. Got it?"

"Got it."

"No peeking."

"No peeking."

"Right, here we go."

Tori waited until Jade rounded the corner and disappeared from view. She stared at the napkin for a moment. Finally, fingers trembling with giddy anticipation, she reached for the little white square and unfolded it.

.

.

.

.

.

 _Two years later…_

 _._

She unfolded it once again, as she had so many times, and read the two words written there. It hadn't been what she'd expected, and Jade had been right. The next few days had been desperately, painfully awkward, and her heart had gone out to the poor girl, trapped in a situation that Tori had all but forced on her. But she knew she'd had to say something. She couldn't keep silent, not about this. She folded it back up again, and held it quietly. She'd made the right decision in the end, but it didn't make her feel any less guilty.

There was a rattle of keys, and her partner came crashing through the door carrying the groceries. "Hey."

"Hey."

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Just thinking."

"About me?"

"About school."

"What about it?"

"Just... memories."

She felt a hand on her shoulder, brushing her skin. "Good ones?"

"I don't know."

"Regrets?"

"Maybe."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Yes. No. I don't know. It's just I sometimes wish..."

"What?"

She uncurled her hand to reveal the napkin. Fingers plucked it carefully from her palm and opened it up to read the words, faded and blurred with the years.

.

 _It's you._

 _._

 _._

 _._

Tori sighed. "I sometimes wish I hadn't made you wait so long," she said. "I'm so sorry. It must have been horrible for you."

Jade leaned down and planted a kiss on her neck. "It was," she said. "But it was worth it in the end. And I can't believe how close I came to not telling you at all. You've no idea how relieved I was when I found that in my locker."

Tori smiled, and tilted her head against her girlfriend's. She took the napkin back, and turned it over in her hand, to reveal the single word written on the other side, still smudged with tears she hadn't been there to see.

.

 _Yes._

 _._

She turned, and found Jade's lips with her own, napkin slipping from her hands, groceries forgotten.

Because now they had a _new_ thing. And it was the best thing in the world.

.

.

.

.

.

 **Well, there you go. All's well that ends well.**

 **Let me know what you think, good or bad, I always appreciate your comments.**


End file.
